South Beach Critique

In this blog, we will be analyzing various viewpoints from people advocating fad fitness. A major category of fad fitness is fad diets, and one of the key fad diets around is the South Beach Diet. The main premise of the South Beach Diet is that “good carbs” replace “bad carbs” and “good fats” replace “bad fats.” Here is a video advocating the South Beach Diet. The woman offers a list of all of the foods that dieters can and cannot eat during this diet, as well as several interesting mindsets.

One of the main flaws in this argument is in the approach to what can and cannot be eaten. While the food pyramid we’ve all come accustomed to may be slightly obsolete and flawed, it is a useful tool to analyze healthy diets. The woman in this video mentions cutting out carbs. This includes cutting out fruits and many vegetables. In one fell swoop, she eliminates the bottom two-thirds of the pyramid. There is a reason that these food groups form the foundation of the pyramid: these foods are the foundation of our diet! Humans are natural omnivores and cutting out many of these grains and plants is not healthy. She also mentions at about 5:00 and 7:45 that she see carbs and eating in a totally different light. This means that she has taken on the idea that fruits and vegetables and other grains are the enemy and need to be resisted and ignored.

Another fault in the woman’s presentation is her lack of emphasis on exercise. Any proper fitness routine needs to have exercise figured into it. The book she mentions in the beginning makes reference to what seem like light calisthenics. The book seems to endorse these light household exercises as opposed to rigorous, heart-rate-raising exercises that are part of proper health.

Another important and perhaps subtle flaw in the woman’s argument is her body image. At 1:45 and 8:45 she mentions that after dropping a lot of weight, she still considers herself fat. While it is the opinion of this blogger and likely most people that she doesn’t look fat at all, she still has the mentality that she is a fat person. It is this kind of distorted body image and unrealistic view of our bodies that make the diet industry people salivate. Combating fad fitness also means combating people’s distorted views of their bodies as well as distorted societal views of what is healthy and beautiful.